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PREVALENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY AMONG NURSES IN SCOTLAND: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY USING THE SCOTTISH HEALTH SURVEY
ABSTRACT
Background: Increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity represents a global pandemic.
As the largest occupational group in international healthcare systems nurses are at the
forefront of health promotion to address this pandemic. However, nurses own health
behaviours are known to influence the extent to which they engage in health promotion and
the public’s confidence in advice offered. Estimating the prevalence of overweight and
obesity among nurses is therefore important. However, to date, prevalence estimates have
been based on non-representative samples and internationally no studies have compared
prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses to other healthcare professionals using
representative data.
Objectives: To estimate overweight and obesity prevalence among nurses in Scotland, and
compare to other healthcare professionals and those working in non-heath related
occupations.
Design: Cross-sectional study using a nationally representative sample of five aggregated
annual rounds (2008-2012) of the Scottish Health Survey.
Setting: Scotland.
Participants: 13,483 adults aged 17 to 65 indicating they had worked in the past 4 weeks,
classified in four occupational groups: nurses (n=411), other healthcare professionals
(n=320), unqualified care staff (n=685), and individuals employed in non-health related
occupations (n=12,067).
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Main outcome measures: Prevalence of overweight and obesity defined as Body Mass Index
≥ 25.0.
Methods: Estimates of overweight and obesity prevalence in each occupational group were
calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A logistic regression model was then built to
compare the odds of being overweight or obese with not being overweight or obese for
nurses in comparison to the other occupational categories. Data were analysed using SAS
9.1.3.
Results: 69.1% (95% CI 64.6,73.6) of Scottish nurses were overweight or obese. Prevalence
of overweight and obesity was higher in nurses than other healthcare professionals (51.3%,
CI 45.8,56.7), unqualified care staff (68.5%, CI 65.0,72.0) and those in non-health related
occupations (68.9%, CI 68.1,69.7). A logistic regression model adjusted for socio-
demographic composition indicated that, compared to nurses, the odds of being overweight
or obese was statistically significantly lower for other healthcare professionals (Odds Ratio
[OR] 0.45, CI 0.33,0.61) and those in non-health related occupations (OR 0.78, CI 0.62,0.97).
Conclusions: Prevalence of overweight and obesity among Scottish nurses is worryingly
high, and significantly higher than those in other healthcare professionals and non-health
related occupations. High prevalence of overweight and obesity potentially harms nurses’
own health and hampers the effectiveness of nurses’ health promotion role. Interventions
are therefore urgently required to address overweight and obesity among the Scottish
nursing workforce.
Key words: Health Promotion; Nurses; Obesity; Scotland; Health Surveys; Workforce
Abstract word count: 400 / Manuscript word count: 2,994
Page 2 of 25
INTRODUCTION
Increasing prevalence of people who are overweight or obese represents a global pandemic
[1]. Between 1980 and 2013 the proportion of overweight and obese adults, defined as
those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) ≥ 25.0, increased worldwide by 27.5% [2]. In the
United Kingdom (UK), two thirds of the male population (66.6%) and over a half of females
(57.2%) are overweight or obese [2], and in Scotland 68.2% of males and 60.4% of females
are overweight or obese [3]. Increasing prevalence is concerning due to the links between
being overweight or obese and morbidity and its impacts on health care budgets. Obesity
has been associated with increased risk of heart disease [4,5], diabetes mellitus [6], cancer
[7,8], lower back injury [9], and reduced health-related quality of life [10]. The estimated
cost of overweight and obesity to the UK National Health Service (NHS) is currently £6
billion, and will likely increase to between £10 billion and £12 billion by 2030 [11]. In
Scotland, in 2007/08 the costs of overweight and obesity to the NHS were estimated at £312
million and obesity alone cost NHS Scotland £175 million, equivalent to 2% of the total
budget allocated to NHS Boards [12]. Given these health and financial impacts UK
Governments have committed to addressing overweight and obesity as a public health
priority [12]. This raises an important question for health care professionals around what
their contribution to these public health goals may be.
Nurses have an established and expanding public health role [13,14] and a regulatory
requirement to engage in health promotion with their patients [15]. Seizing ‘teachable
moments’ during routine patient interactions to provide health education is understood to
be a key element in promoting positive behaviour change [16]. As the largest occupational
group in the NHS [17,18] nurses therefore play a pivotal role in addressing the pandemic
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through provision of advice and education around protective behaviours, including the
importance of maintaining a healthy diet and frequent participation in physical activity.
However, it is known that nurses’ own levels of physical activity are associated with the
frequency of provision of exercise advice [19]. Evidence also suggests that nurses have a
role modelling effect insofar as the public are less confident in overweight nurses’ ability to
provide advice about diet and exercise [20]. Despite this, in comparison to ‘normal’ weight
nurses, overweight nurses perceive themselves to be equally competent to provide advice
and counselling [21] and to hold more positive attitudes towards obese patients [22].
Hence, personal experience might enhance the care provided during interactions between
overweight nurses and patients [23]. However, given the potential impact on both their own
health and the potentially adverse impact on engagement in health education, estimating
the prevalence of overweight or obese among nurses is important.
Reported prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses internationally ranges
between 54.5% and 79.1% [21,24-26]. Prevalence has been observed to be lowest in the
United States of America (USA) (54.5% [21]; 57% [24]), followed by the UK (59.1%), Australia
(61.3%) and New Zealand (61.8%) [25], and highest in South Africa (79.1%) [26]. Prevalence
of overweight and obesity among nurses in Scotland is not known. International studies
comparing obesity prevalence among nurses with the general population have been
equivocal, reporting higher prevalence in the UK, Australia and New Zealand [25],
comparable prevalence in South Africa [26] and lower prevalence in the USA [21,24].
Prevalence estimates have, however, been based on non-representative samples and to our
knowledge no studies have compared prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses
to other healthcare professionals. The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of
Page 4 of 25
overweight and obesity among nurses in Scotland using representative administrative data,
and compare prevalence to other healthcare professionals and the general working
population. The study represents a step towards assessing the extent to which health care
professionals, and especially nurses, are able to effectively contribute to the delivery of
health education to address the obesity pandemic.
METHODS
Study design and participants
Analysis was conducted using the Scottish Health Survey, a cross-sectional survey of the
Scottish population designed by the Scottish Government to yield a nationally
representative sample. The Scottish Health Survey is used to estimate prevalence of health
conditions, disease risk factors, track health trends over time and measure government
performance against targets. Sampling, recruitment and data collection processes used in
the Scottish Health Survey are described in detail elsewhere [27]. Briefly, the Scottish
Health Survey samples households from the Postcode Address File which contains addresses
of most residential dwellings within Scotland. All adults (aged 16 years old or over) in
selected households were eligible for interview. Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing
was used for face-to-face data collection in respondent’s homes, with questions of a
sensitive nature asked via a self-completion booklet.
Five annual rounds of the Scottish Health Survey (2008 to 2012) were aggregated to ensure
sufficient numbers for analysis. Only participants aged 17 to 65 years who had worked in the
past 4 weeks were included in order that comparisons were of the working population only.
Page 5 of 25
Measures
Overweight and obesity
Interviewers measured participants’ height and weight from which BMI was derived [28].
Following the World Health Organisation (WHO) classification, BMI was categorised as
‘underweight’ (BMI<18.5), ‘normal’ (BMI=18.5-24.9), ‘overweight’ (BMI=25.0-29.9) and
‘obese’ (BMI≥30). Due to small numbers ‘underweight’ and ‘normal’ were aggregated into a
single category for analysis.
Occupation
Participants were asked their occupation, which was then classified using the standard
occupational classification SOC2000 (for survey years 2008-2011) and SOC2010 (2012). This
typology classifies people into specific groups indicating their main work, for example
registered nurses [29]. For the purposes of this study, Scottish Health Survey analysts
created a variable indicating whether participants were members of four groups: nurses;
other healthcare professionals; care workers; and, non-health related occupations. SOC2000
and SOC2010 codes used to create each occupational group are shown in Table 1.
[Insert Table 1 here]
Socio-demographic characteristics
To take into account compositional differences between these four groups likely to
influence weight, data on gender, age, and parental socio-economic status were used for
analysis. The National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification provides indication of socio-
economic status [30]. However, as this is an occupation-based classification system all
Page 6 of 25
nurses are classified in Group 2 of the 5-fold National Statistics Socio-Economic
Classification. This does not, however, reflect the heterogeneity within the nursing
workforce. Socio-economic circumstances during childhood have been found to increase
risk of obesity in adulthood, especially among women from manual social classes [31].
Hence, inclusion of an individual (rather than area-based) proxy for socio-economic status
was deemed preferable to omission of such a measure. Respondents in the Scottish Health
Survey were asked to report parental occupation at the age of 14 years old, from which a
measure of parental social class was derived. This indicator was used in analysis to take into
account differences between groups with regards to socio-economic status.
Statistical methods
Descriptive statistics for socio-demographic variables were calculated for each of the
groups, specifically gender, age, parental social class, as well as for Scottish Health Survey
round. Estimates of overweight and obese prevalence in each group were then calculated,
with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A logistic regression model was then developed to
compare the odds of being overweight or obesity with not being overweight or obese for
nurses in comparison to the other occupational categories. Survey round and socio-
demographic variables were simultaneously entered into the final model to assess the
extent to which they explained differences identified in unadjusted models. No evidence of
collinearity between variables entered into models was found. Data were analysed using
SAS 9.1.3 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA).
Sensitivity analysis
Page 7 of 25
To account for: (1) sampling and non-response biases in the Scottish Health Survey; (2) the
gender imbalance in the nursing workforce, sensitivity analyses were conducted as follows.
First, using a weighting variable developed by Scottish Government analysts, models were
built using both unweighted and weighted data. Second, models were built using both
weighted and unweighted data including men and women, and for women only. Results
were similar for unweighted and weighted analyses, and for a model with women only. To
ensure reporting reflects the entire nursing workforce (i.e., men are not excluded) results
are presented for models including both men and women. Both unweighted and weighted
estimates have been tabulated in the interests of transparent reporting.
RESULTS
Sample
The initial dataset included 43,524 people after aggregating. Including only those who were
aged 17-65 years and who had worked in the previous four weeks reduced this number to
17,294 individuals. Initial analysis found a number of individuals for whom data was
missing. Excluding these people from the analysis left a total of 13,483 people in the final
dataset for analysis.
The sample included 411 (3.0%) nurses, 320 (2.2%) other healthcare professionals, 685
(5.1%) care workers, and 12,067 (89.5%) in non-health related occupations (Table 2). For
nurses, the majority were female (92.5%, n=380), with a mean age of 45.95 years (95% CI
44.02-45.89).
[Insert Table 2 here]
Page 8 of 25
Overweight and obesity prevalence
Over two-thirds of nurses (69.1%, 95%CI 64.6,73.6) were overweight or obese (Table 3).
Prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in nurses than other healthcare
professionals (51.3%, 95%CI 45.8,56.7), although over half of that comparison group
nonetheless had a BMI indicating them to be above a healthy weight. Unqualified care staff
(68.5%, 95% CI 65.0,72.0) and those in non-health related occupations (68.9%, 95%CI 68.1,
69.7) had a similar prevalence to that of nurses.
[Insert Table 3 here]
A logistic regression model adjusted for socio-demographic composition indicated that,
compared to nurses, the odds of being overweight or obese were statistically significantly
lower for other healthcare professionals (Odds Ratio [OR] 0.45, CI 0.33,0.61) and those in
non-health related occupations (OR 0.78, CI 0.62,0.97) (Table 4).
[Insert Table 4 here]
DISCUSSION
Our study found a high prevalence of nurses in the Scottish workforce to be overweight or
obese: 7 in 10 (69.1%) nurses in Scotland were overweight or obese; 4 in 10 were
overweight (39.7%) and 3 in 10 obese (29.4%). Prevalence of overweight and obesity is
therefore higher among nurses in Scotland than those in the UK [25], Australia [25], New
Page 9 of 25
Zealand [25], and the USA [21,24]. Moreover, our study found that other healthcare
professionals and those working in non-health related occupations had statistically
significantly lower odds of being overweight or obese than nurses. This confirms previous
international research that found higher prevalence of overweight and obesity among
nurses than the general population in the UK, Australia and New Zealand [25].
Reasons for increased prevalence of overweight and obesity among Scottish nurses are
unknown and warrant further investigation, but likely result from a combination of
individuals’ health-related behaviours and occupational factors. Poor diet and low levels of
physical activity are known risk factors for overweight and obesity [32]. Research has found
that qualified nurses in the UK have poor health-related behaviours. For example, a study of
551 registered nurses in England found that just under half (45.4%) did not meet
government physical activity guidelines, over half (58.0%) did not consume the
recommended five portions of fruit or vegetables each day, and over a third (36.3%) ate
foods high in fat and sugar content on a daily basis [33]. Hence, individuals’ health-
behaviours may be driving the pattern of overweight and obesity observed.
However, occupational factors, specifically nurses’ working patterns and access to healthy
food in the workplace, may also influence overweight and obesity prevalence. Shift work
disrupts regular sleep, eating and exercise habits, potentially making in more difficult to
maintain a healthy weight [34]. A systematic review found that shift work is associated with
poorer nutritional intake and increased BMI [35]. In the longer-term shift work has been
found to increase the risk of chronic diseases, including breast cancer, cardiovascular
disease, and diabetes [10], as well as gastrointestinal disturbances [36] and depression [37].
Page 10 of 25
Moreover, access to healthy food has been acknowledged as a barrier to nurses and other
healthcare professionals serving as healthy role models for patients, and development of
health-promoting workplaces is a central component of current NHS strategy [38].
However, shift work may not explain the disparity between Scotland and other countries
where prevalence of overweight and obesity is lower. Further research is therefore
required that compares prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses with other
occupational groups who work shifts. Most immediately, cross-national research is needed
to compare findings from Scotland to other countries – especially the USA – where, despite
similar shift-based working patterns, prevalence of overweight and obesity is lower among
nurses than the general working population [21,24]. Moreover, access to healthy foods in
the workplace may not explain differences observed between healthcare professionals
potentially working in the same location. Hence, research is needed to understand dietary
behaviours of different health professional groups and potential differences across different
workplaces to determine the influence of local food landscapes and cultures on patterns of
prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses and other healthcare professionals.
Implications for policy and practice
Our findings have important implications for health promotion policy, nurse education, and
the development of supportive workplace interventions for nurses. First, set in the context
of evidence that identifies individuals are less likely to be confident in overweight nurses’
ability to provide advice about diet and exercise [20], the high levels of overweight and
obesity observed in our study raises some concerns about the effectiveness of health
promotion that is reliant on seizing ‘teachable moments’ during routine patient interactions
Page 11 of 25
[16]. This is of particular note due to Scotland’s poor health record, and the need for health
professionals to be fully engaged in public health roles. It has been suggested, however,
that previous personal experience of being overweight can enhance supportive patient-
professional relationships [23]. Hence, supporting nurses with their own weight loss has
potential to enhance the authenticity of future interactions with patients that draws on such
experience which may result in more effective health promotion interventions. In addition,
harnessing shared experience may open opportunities for mutual support between patients
and professionals, thereby taking seriously the two-way nature of patient-professional
interactions and maximising the influence of relational health promotion approaches for
both parties.
Second, our findings suggest that nurse education may afford an opportunity to seize the
‘teachable moment’ nursing curricula provide to promote healthy behaviours and establish
healthy habits for the future. Although little is known about the health of student nurses on
entry to nursing programmes in Scotland, a cross-sectional study of 325 student nurses in
England found that over a quarter (27.1%) were overweight or obese [39] and a survey of
215 student nurses in Wales found 40% were overweight to morbidly obese [40]. It is
known that the health-related behaviours of student nurses are poor on entry to
undergraduate nursing programmes in the UK [39], and generally worse than those of
qualified nurses [33]. Less than a quarter (23.8%) of student nurses in Hawker’s (2012)
study [40] and under half of student nurses (46.0%) in Blake et al’s study did not meet
current physical government guidelines for physical activity, and over three-quarters
(76.8%) did not consume five servings of fruit and vegetables a day [39]. Hence, our findings
suggest that commissioners and providers of nurse education – especially in Scotland –
Page 12 of 25
should consider ways through which undergraduate programmes can be designed to
promote healthy behaviours and attitudes among the future nursing workforce in order to
reverse high overweight and obesity prevalence. For example, curricula might incorporate
more teaching about nurses own health behaviours as well as opportunities to establish
healthy habits through timetabled or extra-curricular exercise classes, campuses might
incentivise and normalise healthy food choices, and educators might consider how their
own role modelling influences students’ health-related behaviours.
Third, given links between being overweight or obese and morbidity, the findings are also
concerning with regards to the welfare of nurses. Our findings raise important questions
around the importance of health literacy as a trigger to individual action. Given their health
promotion role, nurses are likely highly health literate and aware of the behavioural steps
required to maintain a healthy weight. That such high prevalence of overweight and obesity
is evident among a health literature group, suggests that either cognitive dissonance or
structural factors may be more influential than health knowledge. There is therefore an
urgent need to better understand the reasons for increased prevalence of overweight and
obesity among both nursing staff and nursing students through future research in order to
better support the Scottish nursing workforce. Research is important in order to ensure that
the underlying reasons for nurses’ health-related behaviour and the perceived barriers to
health promotion among the nursing workforce can inform the development of supportive
workplace interventions to address high levels of overweight and obesity observed among
the existing workforce. Maintaining and improving the health of the nursing workforce in
Scotland is vital due to the workforce and public health implications of our findings. High
prevalence of overweight and obesity and associated health problems may lead to increased
Page 13 of 25
sick leave or premature workforce exit, and hamper nurses’ public health role [14] through
the implicit messages nurses convey to patients as a ‘point of reference’ [39] for health-
related behaviours.
Strengths and weaknesses
This is the first study internationally to use nationally representative routinely collected data
to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among nurses, and to compare
prevalence between health professionals and the general working population. A key
strength is that comparisons between occupational groups are made using data drawn from
the same survey rather than through reference to population level data derived from
different datasets as previous conducted [25]. Moreover, BMI was calculated from height
and weight measurements taken by survey interviewers rather than participant self-report
increasing their accuracy. However, our study has a number of limitations. First, analyses
used cross-sectional data preventing assessment of change in individuals BMI over time or
determination of causal factors resulting in overweight and obesity. Comparison of our
findings among qualified nurses with recent data for student nurses [39] suggests that it
could be that higher prevalence of overweight and obesity among qualified nurses than
other healthcare professionals and those in non-health related occupations could be a result
of high levels of overweight and obesity on entry to nurse education. However, further
longitudinal research using representative samples of student and qualified nurses is
required to assess change in overweight and obesity prevalence over time and underlying
causal factors. Second, survey data were aggregated for a five-year period (i.e., 2008-2012)
and may not account for changes in overweight and obesity prevalence over time. Survey
year was included in logistic regression models to control for this and no significant effect
Page 14 of 25
was observed. Currently, there is no nationally representative dataset in the UK that
includes a sufficiently large cohort of nurses to estimate prevalence or overweight and
obesity at a single time point. Third, data were missing for some participants for BMI
(13.0%), occupation (0.4%), and parental social class (10.2%). It is possible that bias will
have influenced results. For example, there may be differences between occupational
categories in respect to whether or not individuals declined to provide height and weight
data from which BMI was derived. This likely means that BMI data was not missing at
random and that estimates are conservative (i.e. differences may be greater than reported).
Conclusions
Over two-thirds of Scottish nurses were found to be overweight or obese. Prevalence of
overweight and obesity among the Scottish nursing workforce was found to be statistically
significantly higher than other healthcare professionals and those in non-health related
occupations. Observed prevalence was higher than previous studies in the UK, Australia and
New Zealand. High prevalence of overweight and obesity potentially harms nurses’ own
health and hampers the effectiveness of health promotion reliant on relational approaches.
Hence, interventions at an individual and structural level are urgently required to address
prevalence of overweight and obesity among the nursing workforce in order to better
support the nursing workforce and realise the potential public health benefits nurses can
have at a population-level through their established health promotion role.
Competing interests
All authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Page 15 of 25
Ethical approval
The study was approved by a University Research Ethics Committee [blinded for peer
review].
Data sharing statement
Data were provided and downloaded from the UK Data Archive.
Funding statement
This study was not externally funded.
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TABLES
Table 1: SOC2000 and SOC2010 codes for occupational groups
Occupational categories SOC2000 (2008-2011)
SOC2010 Code (2012)
Nurse 3211 2231Other health professional
Medical practitioners 2211 2211
Psychologists 2212 2212
Pharmacist 2213 2213
Ophthalmic opticians 2214 2214
Dental practitioners 2215 2215
Medical radiographers 3214 2217
Podiatrists 3215 2218
Physiotherapists 3221 2221
Occupational therapists 3222 2222
Speech and language therapists 3223 2223
Therapy professionals (n.e.c.) 3229 2229
Midwives 3212 2232Unqualified care worker
Nursing auxiliaries and assistants 6111 6141Care workers and home carers 6115 6145Senior care workers – 6146
Non-health occupations All other codes
All other codes
Note: 1 N.E.C = Not Elsewhere Classified.
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Table 2: Sample sociodemographic characteristics
Nurses (n=411)
Other Health Care
Professionals (n=320)
Unqualified Care Staff (n=685)
Non-health Related
Occupations (n=12,067)
Total (n=13,483)
n % n % n % n % n %Survey 2008 65 15.8 49 15.3 127 18.5 2349 19.5 2590 19.2 2009 98 23.8 73 22.8 142 20.7 2793 23.1 3106 23.0 2010 80 19.5 81 25.3 159 23.2 2519 20.9 2839 21.1 2011 91 22.1 71 22.2 163 23.8 2701 22.4 3026 22.4 2012 77 18.7 46 14.4 94 13.7 1705 14.1 1922 14.3Gender Males 31 7.5 87 27.2 102 14.9 6198 51.4 6418 47.6 Females 380 92.5 233 72.8 583 85.1 5869 48.6 7065 52.4Age ≤29 32 7.8 40 12.5 82 12.0 1689 14.0 3080 22.8 30-34 37 9.0 45 14.1 37 5.4 1244 10.3 1735 12.9 35-39 39 9.5 41 12.8 77 11.2 1419 11.8 1978 14.7 40-44 68 16.5 52 16.3 109 15.9 1809 15.0 2457 18.2 45-49 100 24.3 50 15.6 105 15.3 1920 15.9 2589 19.2 50-54 70 17.0 43 13.4 116 16.9 1647 13.6 2256 16.7 55-59 42 10.2 32 10.0 104 15.2 1386 11.5 1901 14.1 ≥60 23 5.6 17 5.3 55 8.0 953 7.9 1298 9.6Parental NS-SEC Managerial and professional 160 38.9 202 63.1 150 21.9 4143 34.3 4655 34.5
Intermediate 56 13.6 28 8.8 68 9.9 1293 10.7 1445 10.7 Small employers/own account 50 12.2 34 10.6 83 12.1 1394 11.6 1561 11.6
Lower supervisory/technical 50 12.2 30 9.4 114 16.6 1784 14.8 1978 14.7
Semi-routine 95 23.1 26 8.1 270 39.4 3453 28.6 3844 28.5BMI
Mean (Standard Deviation) 27.9 (5.0) 26.1 (4.6) 28.5 (5.8) 27.8 (5.0) 27.8 (5.0)
< 18.50a 1 0.24 5 1.56 6 0.88 86 0.71 98 0.73
< 24.99 127 30.9 156 48.8 216 31.5 3751 31.1 4250 31.5 25.00-29.99 163 39.7 109 47.2 228 33.3 4801 39.8 5301 39.3
30.00+b 121 29.4 55 17.2 241 35.2 3515 29.1 3932 29.2Notes: a Underweight included with normal in analysis due to small numbers. b Morbidly obese included with obese in analysis due to small numbers.
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Table 3: Overweight by occupational group
Overweight (BMI≥25.00)Unweighted Weighted
95% CI 95% CIOccupational group % Lower Upper % Lower UpperNurses 69.10 64.63 73.57 69.58 65.02 74.15Other health care professionals 51.25 45.77 56.73 49.39 44.10 54.68Unqualified care staff 68.47 64.99 71.95 69.16 65.53 72.80Non-health related occupations 68.92 68.09 69.74 67.61 66.79 68.42Total 68.48 67.69 69.26 67.29 66.51 68.06
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Table 4: Binary logistic regression model
Overweight (BMI≥25.00)Unweighted WeightedUnadjusted Adjusted Unadjusted Adjusted
Occupational groups Nurses Comparison Comparison Comparison Comparison Other health care professionals 0.47 (0.35-0.64)* 0.45 (0.33-0.61)* 0.43 (0.32-0.58)* 0.42 (0.31-0.58)* Unqualified care staff 0.97 (0.75-1.26) 0.87 (0.66-1.13) 0.98 (0.75-1.29) 0.90 (0.68-1.19) Non-health related occupations 0.99 (0.80-1.23) 0.78 (0.62-0.97)* 0.91 (0.73-1.14) 0.74 (0.59-0.93)*SHeS survey round 2008 Comparison Comparison Comparison Comparison 2009 0.96 (0.86-1.08) 0.97 (0.87-1.09) 1.00 (0.89-1.11) 0.98 (0.88-1.10) 2010 1.02 (0.91-1.14) 1.04 (0.92-1.18) 1.07 (0.95-1.19) 1.06 (0.95-1.19) 2011 0.91 (0.81-1.01) 0.91 (0.81-1.02) 0.94 (0.84-1.04) 0.92 (0.82-1.03) 2012 0.91 (0.80-1.03) 0.91 (0.80-1.04) 0.92 (0.81-1.04) 0.93 (0.82-1.05)Gender Female Comparison Comparison Comparison Comparison Male 1.89 (1.75-2.04) * 1.92 (1.77-2.07) * 1.78 (1.66-1.91)* 1.86 (1.72-2.00)*Age ≤29 Comparison Comparison Comparison Comparison 30-34 1.46 (1.27-1.69) * 1.46 (1.27-1.69) * 1.56 (1.38-1.78)* 1.56 (1.37-1.78)* 35-39 2.01 (1.75-2.31) * 2.02 (1.75-2.33) * 2.29 (2.01-2.61)* 2.28 (2.00-2.61)* 40-44 2.29 (2.01-2.62) * 2.26 (1.98-2.59) * 2.66 (2.35-3.01)* 2.60 (2.29-2.95)* 45-49 2.27 (1.99-2.58) * 2.20 (1.93-2.52) * 2.60 (2.30-2.94)* 2.52 (2.22-2.86)* 50-54 2.64 (2.31-3.03) * 2.54 (2.21-2.93) * 2.98 (2.62-3.40)* 2.84 (2.49-3.25)* 55-59 3.37 (2.90-3.92) * 3.18 (2.73-3.71) * 3.69 (3.18-4.28)* 3.48 (2.99-4.05)* ≥60 4.05 (3.39-4.84) * 3.56 (2.97-4.28) * 4.36 (3.63-5.23)* 3.83 (3.20-4.61)*Parental NS-SEC Managerial and professional Comparison Comparison Comparison Comparison Intermediate 0.93 (0.83-1.05) 0.91 (0.80-1.03) 0.97 (0.87-1.09) 0.92 (0.82-1.04) Small employers/own account 1.24 (1.10-1.40) * 1.15 (1.01-1.31) * 1.27 (1.12-1.44)* 1.17 (1.03-1.33)* Lower supervisory/technical 1.50 (1.33-1.68) * 1.28 (1.37-1.44) * 1.61 (1.44-1.80)* 1.33 (1.18-1.49)* Semi-routine 1.55 (1.41-1.70) * 1.32 (1.20-1.46) * 1.67 (1.52-1.83)* 1.35 (1.23-1.49)*
Note: * p<0.05
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